The S.C. House of Representatives adopted a bipartisan budget amendment on Wednesday, March 13, to restore 17 rural employment centers dismantled by the state Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) last month.

One of those offices is in neighboring Chester County. Since Feb. 19, those in Chester County who need face-to-face help with unemployment benefits have been coming to the Lancaster office at 705 N. White St.

Flags are being flown at half-mast today as a tribute to Michael Louis Broz. Broz, a volunteer firefighter in Ridgeville, was killed in an accident while responding to a forest fire on Sunday, March 10.

Lancaster City Council has pumped the breaks on its proposed measure regarding business license inspections.
At its Tuesday, March 12, meeting, council voted unanimously to table an ordinance that would require businesses to submit portions of their federal and state income tax returns to the city. The requirement would help ensure the city is receiving the appropriate license fees from businesses located in the city limits.

Christopher Sardellicsardelli@thelancasternews.com
Improving public safety and ramping up economic development continue to top the county’s strategic plan, an annual document adopted at Lancaster County Council’s Monday, March 11, meeting.
For the second year in a row, public safety was named the No. 1 priority by council members and other county officials during their annual weekend-long planning retreat.

INDIAN LAND – For years, Gary Holland has enjoyed a peaceful, quiet existence at his Collins Road home, but the prospect of a tractor supply store moving nearby roused him to action last month.
Joined by fellow neighbors and a smattering of other Indian Land residents, Holland vehemently opposed a proposed land rezoning during Lancaster County Council’s Feb. 25 meeting.

Christopher Sardellicsardelli@thelancasternews.com
A man visiting from Nashville, Tenn., is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the hand at a Lancaster home late last month.
Deputies responded to Springs Memorial Hospital at 9:20 a.m. Feb. 24, about a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
The victim, a 22-year-old man, told deputies he was in town visiting his brother and had been attending a birthday party at the brother’s house in the 3300 block of Lynwood Drive.

Nobody knew the turf at Lancaster Memorial Stadium as well as the late David Gause.
A coach and educator in the Lancaster County School system for 37 years, Gause, 72, died Saturday at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
Gause came here as a fresh-out-of-college teacher in 1962. A University of South Carolina graduate, he was hired by the late Wade Corn as an assistant football coach.
While Gause shaped his share of young lives from a classroom and a basketball bench, his biggest impact came on the football field in more ways than one.